You Know It's Time For New Shoes When.....

.....You tackle poor 14yo boys in the supermarket, lol!

I was thinking about this little incident today and having a little chuckle to myself! I was in New World in Otaki with my Nana and young Britts and I was wearing these high-heeled cloggy things that I'm far too clumsy to ever have bought in the first place ;o)

Nana and I were at the checkout when we realised we'd lost Brittany and had to backtrack and find her. I'm waltzing down the aisles far too confidently when I slip on the floor and loose my footing. Feeling myself heading towards an ungraceful end, I reach out at the first thing I can grab - which happens to be the poor lad re-stocking the shelves! I engulf the poor creature in a rugby-tackle-cum-bear-hug and he kindly cushions my fall as we slide along the shiny floor!

The bonus was that with my new vantage point of underneath the shelves, I see Britts' shoes in the next aisle over and I am able to apologise profusely to said 14yo and pop round the corner to reclaim my lost wee cousin.

The poor 14yo continues stocking the shelves, trying quietly but desperately to block the last five minutes out of his mind completely ;o)

New Years Resolution Suggestion: "Only Buy Shoes That Suit Me - REGARDLESS Of The Price" ;o)

The Morning After.....

Well, the last time I told the girls to turn their torches off and go to sleep was at 1.30am, and then they started filtering inside at 5am, so while the morning was fun - they packed up somewhat in the afternoon/early evening.

We had the neighbours up for a visit, and Darren et al were still here, which - along with the party girls and the rest of the family - made for some fun in the sun this morning. There was the obligatory game of croquet, along with a table tennis challenge (Uncle Darren reckoned he only had room in the car to pack his B game, but he still managed to whip me - grrrrrr!).


There was four square and bike races and hoop shooting:


And a bit of mischef with the hose:


No place for jandals when there's serious Olympics going on on the front lawn!:


A11 took this cool photo of Jasmine from over the road munching on a slab of watermelon:


Sue having a coffee:


Here some of us are before we set off across the road to see and pat and feed the sheep, horses, cows, fish, dogs and cats:


Some last photos before they disappeared back to Auckland:

Visitors From Afar.....

Uncle Dazza brought his Malaysian houseguests for a visit last night. Dorothy's family are - surprise, surprise - as gorgeous and lovely as she is:




And try as we might to get a halfway decent photo of Big D, these were as close as we got, ;o) (apparently it's Beardember now that Movember has finished?):



Speaking of photo's of Uncle Darren, seeing as how this was our first meeting with Lynette and Jacque, we felt we should remove the photo we have hanging in the dining room of Uncle Darren 'riding Nana's sheep, you know the one where his pants fell down?":

Happy Birthday H8.....

Yep, it's the sleepover party with the traditional trillion guests we get traipsing through at this time of year, nearly every year! What's the use of having a party dress if you don't wear it to your party?:



Hannah made up her own cake this year - a chocolate cake, hollowed out and filled with jelly and lollies:




What sleepover would be complete without the presence of Soph?:


What birthday would be complete without the presence of Megan?:


What kid's party would be complete without the adults having a cuppa inside to get away from the rabble outside?:


From what we can gather, Trampy is approximately the same age as H8, so he had to have a wee pressie too:


A wee game of croquet (hard to believe, I know!):



Some hoops being shot:


A surprise visit from Uncle Paul and Penny, which meant our softball teams were even(ish) - 7 boys against 8 girls. Girls won. Of course:


Getting their beds, etc. organised out in the tent:

Pilot Bay.....

"We're going to Pilot Bay, keen?"

What kind of a question is that? We have the car, our morning visitors have left, and it's been such a long time, it seems, since we've been to the beach.

A Paddling They Will Go.....

The Lad and A11 took off this morning for a paddle across the harbour. They left from Welcome Bay and went out to Motuopuhi Island and back.

I bet A11 was pleased he had the camera and *had* to take the photos, because it looks like The Lad was doing most of the work, lol!:

Biting Off More Than They Can Chew.....

Just hanging today and happened to walk past a rather odd-looking, guilty-faced little boy in his room:


Mostly because the rule is "No eating in the bedrooms", but I was kinda curious about the novel way he had chosen to wear his pyjama top?

Wandering further down the hall I come across this scene:


I'm not sure what the buzz here is, but it's stifling hot and both L5 and L9 got changed *out* of their pyjamas this morning, and now L5 is semi-back in his, and L9 has her winter robe on on top of her clothes, just doing a spot of quilling at the dining room table.

Book Title For The Day: "Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes... in you and your kids!" by Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller.

Not that I've *actually* read it, understand. I gave it to my friend Janie to turn into an audio book for me - I'm so lazy when it comes to reading books. But I sort of feel a bit compelled to do something other than let this one collect dust, because it has had so much world money spent on it. I couldn't source it here so I bought it through Amazon for $US8.50 and was too cheap to pay the $US40 freight so I got it shipped to Bazza in the Big Apple, my Bride'sMate (that's what we called him when I made him go on my side in our Bridal Party, lol! "Alright" he said, "But I'm NOT wearing pink, and I'm NOT wearing a dress". Roger That).

I told him to put the book on a slow boat via Guatemala, I didn't care, as long as it got to me before I turned 40, and it didn't cost me the earth.

He must have more money than sense, because I got a FedEx parcel from Mr Vasalini, our fabulous Italian mailman, that cost him $US135 to get to me!!!!! Needless to say, I haven't reimbursed you yet, have I darling? Never mind, if we do decide to come and visit you in the next few months, I might shout you a coffee for your efforts ;o)

Boxing Day Visitors.....

Lucky for us we had visitors today, I never got round to getting dressed the entire time they were, but that didn't scare them off any ;o)

Cathy playing table tennis with A11:



Solomon and Matt hanging out:

Our Bubba Again.....

Some more photos from Nana of when James was visiting them in Gizzy over Christmas:

Christmas Day 2008.....

Well, again this year, this day seemed to take such a long time to arrive. We knew it had when at 5.30am we started hearing excited little whispers from the bedrooms and timid little footsteps creeping into the lounge. The whispers growing louder, until they were little squeals of delight and anticipation - first the two girls, then L5, and finally A11 gathering to see what treasures awaited them under the tree.

"Can we open some now, Dad, pleeeease?". And so, with eyes not quite ready to be awake, and a stomach not quite ready for marshmallow (but those cherries looked delicious), the present unwrapping began. It was all very ordered chaos, and children certainly seem to have an innate knowledge of how to make lasting Christmas morning memories. Everyone was very happy with their gifts, everyone getting a few things from their 'Most Wanted' list.

Hannah got a few new Schleich animals to add to her collection:


A11 got some new shoes and a softball:



The Lad started round with the rubbish sack whilst I started preparing our little Christmas Breakfast tradition of fresh fruit and berries with chantilly cream and yoghurt, with strawberries floating in sparkling grape juice for toast and good wishes.


After talking with the rellies (I was surprisingly composed, as I'm not really good on Christmas with just The Lad and The Kids), and cleaning up after breakfast, the games began. Now some families spent the day counting their blessings and being thankful that they were blessed with the whanau they have, but not us, not this year.

We had a SIX-tathlon(? couldn't find any reference to any six event multi-sport title), and a fiercely competitive one at that! There were a few rounds with H7's new croquet set, with The Lad taking the title there. We had a round robin marathon with L9's new table tennis set, and I took out Champion of The World in that. There was softball - boys against girls - with A11's new bat and ball, and L5's new baseball and catchers' mitt. Two games, both tied at the bottom of the last.

We also had a few new card games to learn and beat people at - there was L5's new SkipBo and H7's new Phase Ten (I'm sure I won them two), and we also had L9's new Pass the Buck.

I tell you, there were tears, and tantrums, and victory laps, and more tears, and much ribbing, and an awesome day all round. It reminded me of Christmas at The Park, where the majority of my maternal extended whanau usually gather at Queen Elizabeth Park in Paekakariki and we feast and swim and have matches to the death in volleyball, badminton, cricket, touch, soccer, softball, and anything else anyone thinks up or brings equipment for.

Tramp had the right idea, though, The Lad and I were well jealous of him, getting to curl up and sleep because he was tired:



Merry Christmas, everyone xoxoxo